


blind in the sun

by pistolgrip



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Mistaken Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 21:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20088802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pistolgrip/pseuds/pistolgrip
Summary: Siete makes mistakes. At least he can count on the benevolence of wandering strangers to get him back on his feet.





	blind in the sun

Siete's head is pounding, his vision swimming as he tries to keep the monster in front of him in focus. The numerous ailments inflicted onto him are weakening him to a monster that should be easy to subdue, but this forest is unknown territory to him, and now he's paying the price for thinking he could treat it like any other place in the skydom.

He swings his sword for the final blow, but it deals to him the same amount of pain he causes it, and he collapses on top of the monster's corpse.

Losing consciousness here would be a bad idea. The Eternals know where he is, but they won't consider his disappearance cause for concern unless he disappears for at least a few weeks. He needs to drag himself back to where the ship can pick him up or to a town where he can recuperate, but dizziness strikes him as he stands up. He fights through it to take a step, but the action causes pain to spike through his nervous system, setting his nerves on fire, and he collapses again.

Even moving around to get to his pockets for rudimentary herbs to heal himself is causing him pain, but the longer he stays there, the more weakened he grows. To make matters worse, when he reaches into his pockets, they're empty.

He forgot he gave his spares to Fif before leaving so she could experiment. "Ah, fuck." He opens his eyes to look for anything in the surrounding area that could help him, and he realizes for the first time that someone is standing there, watching him writhe around.

The figure is in all black from head to toe, with a dark green mask covering their face, standing in the mottled shadows of leaves. Siete jumps to reach for his sword, but falls on his face instead as his hand goes around the hilt. It hurts to lift his blade, but he tries valiantly, grinning all the while. "What do you want?"

They pay him no mind, walking a wide berth around him and his sword. They take out out a dagger of their own to cut off pieces of the monster's hide and fur.

"Six?" he can't help but ask, squinting through the pain. When the hooded figure turns to look at him, illuminated by the sunlight, there's no sign of Erune ears. They tilt their head. "Nah, never mind, ignore me. Pain delirious and all that."

He lets his hand with the sword drop against the hard dirt, and he shuts his eyes to take a gasp. The noise of the mysterious person's dagger cutting into the carcass washes over him, the rhythmic motion something for him to measure his breathing against. He should be more on guard with a stranger around him when he's so weak, but they had their chance to kill him. He takes a few more moments to catch his breath before questioning them further.

He must be more out of it than he realizes, because when he next opens his eyes, the stranger is sitting next to him, digging through their backpack to procure an herb. "Whoa, when the hell did you get here?" He coughs.

He doesn't expect an answer, but he does expect more warning than them suddenly pushing the herb towards his mouth. Siete might be debilitated, but he fights through the spike of pain to grab their wrist and hold it in place. "Warn a guy before putting weird things in his mouth."

The person stays still, and he can almost imagine a glare underneath the mask. "You know, you kinda remind me of someone." Maybe it's the resemblance to Six that makes him less wary than he should be.

Still in Siete's grip, they twitch their hand holding the herb. "Alright, alright, let me look at this." Siete reaches up with his other hand to take it from their hand and holds it up to the light.

It's a particular clarity herb that heals only one of his ailments in a crude manner; no sooner does he press it against his tongue and allow it to dissolve does he feel the urge to vomit. He pushes the stranger off him and rolls away to safely expel the contents of his stomach.

One of the poisons drains from his bloodstream, and he wipes his mouth. He never knew how that worked. He chalks it up to magic. "Okay, that sucked. You got another one of those?"

He stands up to walk back to the hooded figure, but on the first step, he stumbles and falls again. Sensing that each movement of his body takes more of his life force away, the hooded figure swoops in to pick him up and place him in a sitting position against the foot of a tree. "Sweeping me off my feet now, are you?" It's to Siete's great amusement that speaking doesn't weaken him, so he continues to do so at great length. "Can I at least get a name for my incredible knight?"

Instead of responding, the hooded figure takes off their backpack to find another clarity herb. Siete makes a face. "Okay, I know I asked, but is this all you got?"

They nod, and Siete sighs. Whoever this stranger is, they're his best case scenario right now, short of being found by an Eternal. Instead of leaving him to die or killing him, they're trying to help him.

He takes the second clarity herb and retreats to the bushes from earlier to throw up once more. When he stumbles back to the tree that the stranger sat him down at, he no longer feels like he's being stabbed with each step he takes, although he still aches everywhere, and his reaction time feels slow, like there's a lag between the thought of moving and his body following.

The hooded figure is walking away when he hobbles back. Even though it pains him, he jogs up next to them, coughing. "Wait, where are you going?"

They hold up an almost-empty jar of red berries, the same colour as the elixirs that skyfarers would carry for battles and treacherous travels. They put a hand on his chest, firm, and points at the base of the tree.

"No, no, I'm good," Siete says. A cough escapes his lips at the end of the sentence, and from behind the stranger's mask, he can guess what sort of unimpressed look the stranger has. "Let me be your sword."

The hooded figure takes out a dagger.

"I can't tell if that's a threat to get me to sit down or a promise that you can take care of yourself, but it doesn't matter. Since you won't talk to me, you can't tell me not to come. Are you gathering materials to heal me?"

After a moment's hesitation, they nod. Siete _loves_ being able to talk without it causing him pain, especially when the other party can't talk. "See? The _least_ I can do is help you. I'm good with swords, I promise."

The hooded figure sighs, and the sound makes Siete grin. "That's the first thing I've heard you say."

Siete picks his sword off the ground, not bothering to sheathe it. He hates sitting around doing nothing as someone helps him back onto his feet, enjoying pushing the foliage out of their way and walking first so he can protect his mysterious little healing guardian. "So, you come here often?"

When he turns back, the stranger has stopped walking to stare at him. Siete laughs. He can tell by the drooping shoulders and the tilted head that the opener doesn't land. "Yes or no questions only?"'

The stranger points, with a jerking motion, to where ears would be on anyone but an Erune, and shakes his head. "Hearing troubles? Then stay close by me so you can hear my voice." Siete winks, and the stranger sighs again. "You know, you remind me of a friend—well, _I _think he's a friend. Not sure if he even feels the same!"

The stranger doesn't move, but the pointed silence feels confused. "Well, that sounded pathetic. My friend—crew member—coworker, whatever, he just takes a bit to warm up. I'm sure you two could sit in silence and get along better with him than I could. God knows he needs company, and he won't let it be me, even though I try!"

He doesn't get a response. Of course he doesn't. But Siete still cracks a smile at the thought of Six. "Come back with me to the ship and you can meet," he jokes. He knows Six is still out on his mission, and Siete wouldn't bring back a complete stranger to one of the Eternals' safe bases, but his groggy mind enjoys the mental image of both of the masked, hooded figures sitting in a room and staring at each other.

The stranger shakes their head so enthusiastically that Siete has to reassure them. "You're not a people person either? Man, you're basically the same person. Except you're nicer to me than he is. He'd be making fun of me left and right for nearly dying to a beast like that!"

They find a bush full of bright-red berries, but before the stranger can get to them, a monstrous rabbit stops them in their path. Siete puts an arm out to stop them from moving any further, but Siete's forgotten that landing successful hits against an enemy volleys it back to him, and he collapses onto the ground again.

"Oops," Siete says, between coughs.

Sighing louder this time, almost loud enough for Siete to hear a voice, his companion launches forward and kills the monster in one stab, knowing right where to rend it useless. "Sorry, guess I'm in worse shape than I thought." They turn to look at Siete, and the blankness of the mask speaks volumes. "I can tell you're glaring at me. I'm used to silent people with masks that get annoyed at me, I'm telling you."

It doesn't hurt him to move, but he doesn't want to make any more wrong moves, lest his injuries grow worse. "You mind if I lay here?"

The stranger sighs again. "You like sighing, don't you?"

Siete watches them gather the berries they need before sitting by his side, taking out a mortar and pestle. He watches them put the empty jar of red elixir to the side before they take out materials from their bag, and he frowns. "That'll clean me right up, but that'll knock me out too, won't it?"

They nod. "Yeah, you get real used to seeing those things. Don't usually have to make it myself, but good to know that I've managed to end up with an adventurer that knows how to make them, especially when I'm this unprepared."

Looking up from the mixture for a brief moment, the stranger tilts their head. "Why am I unprepared?"

They take a second to nod, as if surprised that Siete could guess his question. "Just thought I'd be here for a routine thing, but turns out I'm not as well-acquainted with this place's flora and fauna as I thought. My bad."

They pour the mixture in the jar, now the same crimson that Siete's used to seeing in his elixirs. There isn't as much, but it should be enough to get him on his feet, or at least let him rest in the sleep that would inevitably take him. They take out a lighter and heat up the concoction in the jar, swirling it and adding crushed clarity herbs slowly until it glitters.

When they're done, they pass it to Siete, getting him to sit up. He drinks it, and he feels all of his ailments clear and some of his health return. He's not in the best shape, but the elixir wasn't at full potential, and he'll take what he can get. He knows from Fif that the materials used for them are difficult to gather.

The sleepiness kicks in faster than he expects. He falls into the stranger's lap, unable to keep his head up, and he yawns. The stranger startles and tries to push him off, their knee knocking into his head, but he stays a dead weight. "You have to deal with me sleeping now for a few hours. Thanks for using your resources to help a stranger for an afternoon."

He doesn't know if he's thinking those words or saying them, his eyes drooping closed as the elixir negates the rest of the ailments remaining in his body. It takes him a while to realize that the feeling of a hand stroking through his hair is physical and not part of the medicine's soothing effects.

"Yeah," he decides, "there's no way you're Six. He wouldn't touch me like this with a ten-foot pole."

* * *

Siete wakes up on the Eternals' airship, already sailing off in late afternoon sun. His eyes shoot open, and he nearly falls off the bed with the shock of finding himself in their small med bay. Fif is lowering the staff she had pointed at him, the remnants of her healing magic fading with the sun's rays.

He checks everything in his pockets. Nothing of his has been stolen. He feels in perfect shape. "H—What? How did I get here?"

"Huh?" Fif looks up at him and gives him a weird look as she yawns. "Six brought you back! He carried you over his shoulder like a sacka potatoes, and I had to make you all better. I was napping!"

"What? _Six_?"

"Yeah? You guys ended up in the same place for your missions!"

"We what," Siete says, blankly.

"Ask _him_, I wanna go back to bed." She walks out of the room, not giving him any more answers.

Siete runs a hand through his hair once, the same way Six had, and then he lets it drop down to his side. "Huh," he says to the empty room. His reactions must still be delayed, because it takes a long time for the heat to creep up his neck at the realization that Six had been helping him, in silent compassion.

"Huh."


End file.
